Nicolás Maduro Moros became president of Venezuela following Hugo Chavez’s death in 2013. After Maduro declared victory in Venezuela’s deeply flawed 2018 presidential election, the democratically elected National Assembly of Venezuela invoked the Venezuelan constitution and declared that Maduro had usurped power and was not the president of Venezuela. The United States has not recognized Maduro as the President of Venezuela since 2019.
In the July 28, 2024, Venezuelan presidential election, Maduro fraudulently declared himself the victor despite evidence to the contrary. The United States joined many other countries in refusing to recognize Maduro as the legitimate winner of the July 2024 presidential election.
Maduro helped manage and ultimately lead the Cartel of the Suns, a Venezuelan drug-trafficking organization comprised of high-ranking Venezuelan officials. As he gained power in Venezuela, Maduro participated in a corrupt and violent narco-terrorism conspiracy with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization. Maduro negotiated multi-ton shipments of FARC-produced cocaine; directed the Cartel of the Suns to provide military-grade weapons to the FARC; coordinated with narcotics traffickers in Honduras and other countries to facilitate large-scale drug trafficking; and solicited assistance from FARC leadership in training an unsanctioned militia group that functioned, in essence, as an armed forces unit for the Cartel of the Suns.
In March 2020, Maduro was charged in a Southern District of New York federal indictment for narco-terrorism, conspiracy to import cocaine, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices in violation of Title 21 U.S.C. §§ 960a and 963, and 18 U.S.C. § 924.
After initially offering a reward offer of up to $15 million for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Nicolás Maduro Moros in 2020, the Department of State on January 10, 2025, announced raising the reward offer to up to $25 million.
If you have information and are located outside of the United States, please contact the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate. If in the United States, please contact the local Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) office in your city.
